Changes
by Nanya
Summary: Changes to the past affect the present. Even the smallest changes can cause things that appear similar to be completely different.
1. Chapter 1

Changes

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is just for fun.

This was originally going to be just a short drabble. It just kept growing until it was too long for a drabble.

Anyway, it's S1 of Nanoha again, but this time with a change, can you spot it?

* * *

Watching with some disinterest mixed with worry as the girl fell, mostly because she didn't feel like killing someone, Fate was partly relieved that the girl's familiar was able to save her life. "Bardiche."

"Jewel Seed, sealed." Her Intelligent Device said as she nodded and turned to the ferret.

"Tell your master that if she does not wish to be harmed in the future, she should stay out of my way." Fate wasn't above beating someone until they were black and purple, but killing them? No, she might have acted cold on the battlefield, but killing someone just wasn't in her.

As the ferret watched her leave, he shook his head and sighed. At least Nanoha was alright.

(-)

"I'm back." Fate called out to the penthouse that she was using as her base of operations. She smiled softly as she saw her familiar walk up to her. "Hello, Arf."

"Fate!" The wolf sounded rather happy to see her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I had a small difficulty getting the Jewel Seed, but it was easily taken care of."

Arf tilted her head slightly. "You look upset. You know that you should always be happy when you come back."

Fate rubbed Arf's head. "I'll be okay."

"Fate..." Arf warned before the doors leading to another room opened up and a new person walked in.

"Honestly..." The person huffed as she looked at Fate, before walking up to her, picking her up and pulling her into a hug, getting a blush from the tiny blond girl as she was fussed over. "I told you going out by yourself was a bad thing."

"Mother, I..."

"I told you, you should stop spoiling her, if you want her to grow up properly."

The woman turned to the one who just spoke. "Linith, really, however I want to treat my daughter is up to me." The woman huffed and turned away from the catgirl before smiling at Fate. "And you, you need to tell me all about your mission, okay?"

Fate was blushing, but nodded as her mother tapped her nose.

"Really..." Linith sighed. "You shouldn't spoil her so much... Lady Alicia."

(-)

Alicia smiled as she washed her daughter's hair as the two relaxed before dinner. "Really? That girl sounds like she's a strong mage."

Fate shook her head groggily. Somehow always washing her hair put her to sleep for some reason. "She's not very skilled, but she's got a lot of magical power."

"She sounds like what Linith told me you were like when she was teaching you."

"Mother." Fate blushed more as her mother teased her slightly. "It's different."

"I know." Alicia smiled and hugged Fate from behind. "Go ahead and deal with her how you see fit, but try not to kill her, okay?" When Fate nodded, Alicia picked her up and the two got into the warm bath, elicting a sigh from the two blondes.

As Fate closed her eyes and rested her head on Alicia's chest, the older of the two thought back to when she was just a little younger than Fate. "To think, something so small kept me alive..."

*Flash...*

"Alicia?" Precia looked at her daughter, who was coughing and had a red face. "Are you okay?" She frowned and put the back of her hand on her daughter's head. "My goodness, you're burning up."

"I'm sorry." The little girl looked down, saddened that she wouldn't be able to visit her mother's lab that day.

"It's okay." Precia smiled at her as she picked Alicia up and walked to her room. "You get some rest, I'll get a sitter to watch you until I get back tonight, okay?"

"Okay, mama, be good."

"I will." Precia smiled as she cupped her child's cheek and carressed it softly.

*Flash...*

Alicia closed her eyes, of course, that explosion that happened that day nearly took her mother's life, and might have taken hers as well if she had been there. She cracked an eye open and smiled at her daughter, her Fate, as she rested. "Fate... Come on, we need to get out."

"Mmm... Five more minutes, please?"

Alicia laughed softly. "Okay, five more minutes." Being sick for a few days had stopped her from being near a massive explosion, who knew what would have happened if she hadn't been sick that day?

(-)

In the kitchen, Linith was humming to herself softly as she made dinner for everyone in the penthouse. "Arf, if you even try eating anything before Lady Alicia and Fate get back, I'm going to make you spend the night outside as a human with no clothes on."

"Eek!" Linith smirked to herself as Arf jumped away from the food she was cooking.

"Hey, Linith..." Arf asked after a few moments.

"Hmm?" The catgirl turned to the dog girl as she scratched the back of her head. "What?"

"Do you know why Alicia is having Fate look for the Jewel Seeds?"

Linith sighed softly and nodded. "Yes, I do... Lady Alicia's mother, Lady Precia, is quite ill, and modern medicine just can't help her..."

"So, these Lost Logia..."

"Are Lady Alicia's last chance to save her mother from dying on her." Linith shook her head. "Not much else can be done about it, but I do hope that they're careful, otherwise things could be very bad."

Arf nodded and a determined glint came to her eyes. "I won't fail Fate or Alicia, I'll make sure that Fate gets the Jewel Seeds safely so that Alicia doesn't have to worry about her daughter."

Linith smiled, that was all she hoped for. Well, that and she hoped that Fate grew up to be as lovely a person as Alicia was.

* * *

Chapter End


	2. Chapter 2

Changes

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is just for fun.

This is just going to be some short chapters, nothing major like my other fics.

* * *

"_Miss, are you sure this is what you want?" A male voice was heard asking her._

_"Of course I am!" She snapped at him without looking away from the tube. "Have you done what was in those notes?"_

_"Uh, yes." The man coughed behind her. "The girl's magic power far out-strips your own, in fact, it's likely that, if she survives to adulthood, she'll rival your mother in raw power."_

_"Good." A part of her was screaming to stop this, to not do it, no matter what. "Mother deserves a chance to live more."_

_"But, she has lived a decent life, miss." The man was behind her, concerned. "To go this far..."_

_She spun on him, nearly snarling. "My mother is the only family I have! Don't you _dare _try to minimize how important she is to me."_

_"Of course not." The man shook his head and sighed as she turned back to her console. "But to go so far as to clone yourself like that... The clone is supposed to have your memories..."_

_"I don't need a copy of myself, I need a tool that can get the job done, no questions asked, and get the materials that my mother needs to get better." She pressed several buttons before stopping and taking a look up at the young child's body and stared._

_The girl, her future tool, was looking at her with innocent and curious red eyes. Her fingers trembled slightly, she was about to push the button, but stopped when the little baby did something unexpected..._

_She smiled._

_It was so sudden and unexpected that she stopped, her arm fell limply to her side as she looked at the tool, no, the baby in the tube, before her eyes teared up. "What the hell am I doing?" She asked herself and went to the tube, pressing buttons and opening it up._

_"What are you doing?" The man asked as she gently picked the baby girl up from the tube and cradled her gently. "Ah... Miss?"_

_"I'm leaving... with my daughter... You'll forget everything you saw here, understand?" When he nodded, she started to walk to the door._

_"Wait! A name..." She turned to him as he shook his head. "Don't leave without giving her a name at least."_

_She looked at the baby girl for a few moments, before softly smiling, tears falling out of her eyes. "Fate... Her name is Fate, to represent the weird twists in life that make it so that we live and survive."_

Alicia gasped awake and looked to her right side, where Fate was sleeping, curled up to her. "What was I thinking back then?" She asked herself softly and grabbed her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace, tears falling out of her eyes and into her daughter's hair. "I'm so sorry, Fate... For what I almost did to you."

Even if Fate never found out, and Alicia hoped that she never did, the older woman would do all that she could to make it up to her daughter.

(-)

"Grandmother?" She heard that voice speak up to her. She turned to the doors and saw two people walk in. "How are you?" The smaller one was smiling nervously, a bag of something in her hands as she walked up to her.

Coughing up some blood into her hand, she looked at her daughter. "Alicia..." She panted softly, though she was happy to see her daughter. "It's been too long, daughter."

"I'm sorry, mother, but I need time to find more materials, as soon as I get all the materials, we'll spend more time together." Alicia smiled and gently nudged Fate forward. "Your grand-daughter has something for you."

Fate looked at Precia and smiled softly, for some reason, her grandmother made her nervous, it always felt like her grandmother was judging her and finding her lacking for some reason. "Grandmother, I got you a gift from that world." She walked to Precia and put the bag on a small table in front of her. "I hope you like it."

Alicia walked up to Fate and smiled softly. "Good job, Fate. Why don't you go and get ready to take me back to that world, okay? Otherwise Linith might do something silly to poor Arf." When Fate giggled and left, Alicia was relieved and after the door was closed, she turned to her mother. "Can't you smile when she comes in? She is your grand-daughter."

"She is a clone of you, Alicia, but she is not you..."

Alicia sighed, she loved her mother, but sometimes she wondered if maybe her mother was jealous of Fate. It almost seemed like Precia was worried that Alicia would leave her mother for her daughter. "She's my daughter, mother, and your grand-child, try to smile at her more than you have been, you don't want her to grow up with no happy memories of you, do you?"

"You make it sound like she's a normal girl."

"Stop that, mother." Alicia frowned at her. "She is a normal girl and she's doing her best to help me get the materials I need." Sighing, she turned and started walking away from Precia. "You'll see, mother, as soon as I get what I need, you'll see that she's just a normal girl."

Watching her daughter leave, Precia had to wonder why she gave that... Thing such consideration.

No clone could replace the original after all, and was only good as a tool.

The sooner Alicia saw that, the better.

Shortly after thinking that, Precia fell to her knees, coughing hard.

Outside, Fate looked at her mother as she came out. "Mother, why does Grandmother never smile at me?"

Seeing her daughter look at her with hurt and confused eyes, Alicia knelt down next to Fate and hugged her. "Shhh... It's not your fault, Fate... Mother's just upset at me."

"Huh?" It was unthinkable, her mother was the nicest person ever!

Alicia smiled when Fate said those words to her, even if it wasn't completely true. "Mother's just upset that you were born and I had to raise you by myself."

Blinking in confusion, Fate hugged her mother tightly. "But, you have Linith helping you."

"I didn't always have Linith, Fate..." Alicia shook her head. "So, mother's just mad that I didn't have a partner to help me."

"Huh?" Fate didn't understand and Alicia giggled softly.

"It's okay, Fate, you'll understand when you get older." When Fate nodded against her, she pulled back and ruffled the hair on her daughter's head. "So, come on, the sooner we get those Jewel Seeds, the sooner mother will get better and the sooner she'll stop being such a cranky pants."

Seeing the silly look on her mother's face had Fate giggling as she nodded. "Alright."

(-)

After seeing Fate leave with Arf, Linith shook her head and started cleaning up the penthouse. Fate didn't make much of a mess and Arf was mindful as well, but the place still got dusty and sometimes the girls, including Alicia, weren't always mindful of where they dropped their clothes.

"Linith..." She turned as her master called her. "I think we're out of vegetables."

The catgirl sweat-dropped slightly as she looked in the kitchen, Alicia was wearing her dark shirt and pants combo with a white lab coat over top them and her hair was hanging loose down her back, when asked, Linith would just say that she liked the clothing. "I thought I told you not to wear that coat in the kitchen."

"Linith..." Alicia whined and pouted at her. "I just like the coat, besides, it's not like I can do much on just one Jewel Seed as it is."

Linith sighed softly. "I'll go get some vegetables, but you..." She pulled out a straw broom and used it to shoo the blond out of the kitchen. "Out, out, out... This is my kitchen!"

Alicia rolled her eyes, who knew that her familiar was so possessive of the kitchen?

(-)

Looking at the girl in white, Fate had to wonder just why she was trying to gather the Jewel Seeds, power perhaps? Or maybe she just wanted to use them for some nefarious purpose? Either way, it really didn't matter. "It's too bad..." She said softly as she looked to the side. This place was quite beautiful, she didn't want to fight over it. "I thought you would have learned your lesson last time."

The girl frowned at her. "Listen! Just tell me what you want with the Jewel Seeds!"

"No, you listen!" Fate snapped and pointed Bardiche at the girl as she frowned at her. "I don't know what you want the Lost Logias for, but I cannot allow you to use them for whatever reason you want them for."

"What?" The girl looked stunned as Arf, in her human form, laughed at her.

"Oh, look, she's confused..." The redheaded wolfgirl grinned saucily and seemed to slink forward a bit before seemingly teleporting behind the girl and cupping her chin to turn the small girl's head to make her look up at Arf. "Maybe after my master's done with you, I'll keep you as a personal pet." She grinned and used her free hand to rub the little girl's body, from her chest down her body to her legs, doing this, she was slightly confused as to why the girl blushed, even as her eyes seemingly shrunk in fear.

Honestly, Arf wasn't sure what she would do with her own personal pet, but it sounded fun!

"Enough, Arf." Fate shook her head, getting the familiar to let the girl go. "I would rather not fight you again, I might not stop myself from hurting you badly."

The girl shook her head and jumped away from Arf to look at the two of them warily. "Listen! I just want to know why you're collecting the Jewel Seeds."

"You don't need to know." Fate shook her head. "Arf... Go ahead and play with her."

"Goodie." Arf smirked as she shifted to her wolf form. "I'm going to enjoy this!" She lept at the girl, only to crash into a barrier. "What the?" She could feel the magic take hold of her, and force her elsewhere. "Oh no..." She groaned, as soon as Linith heard about her getting teleported away by another familiar, the catgirl was going to tie her up outside in her human form for the night.

Fate chuckled softly as she looked at the bewildered girl. "I'll tell you what..." She floated to the ground as Bardiche shifted to scythe form. "If you can defeat me in combat, I'll tell you what I want the Jewel Seeds for."

The girl nodded and gripped her device tightly.

'It won't matter.' Fate thought to herself as she got into a stance herself. 'She's just got a lot of magical power, but no skill.'

(-)

Yuuno grimaced, the wolf familiar was strong, he had to admit, but a little too overzealous. "So what was up with you grabbing Nanoha like that for?"

The wolf chuckled as she tried to grab at the ferret again. "Upset that I would touch your master like that?"

"She's not my master!" Yuuno shot back and used some binding magic to wrap the wolf's legs up and cause her to fall down. "She's my friend."

Arf growled at the ferret. If she didn't get things under control, Linith wouldn't let her hear the end of it. "You..." She growled as she broke the binds a moment later. "Get back here!"

Arf chased the ferret around a bit until they got back to the battlefield, just in time to see Fate pointing her scythe at the neck of the other girl.

"Put out." A feminine voice was heard as a Jewel Seed was expunged from the device.

"Your Intelligent Device cares for you." Fate said as she took the Jewel Seed and turned. "...If you must know, my name is Fate Testarossa." She turned and smiled at the wolf as she walked up to the two girls and shifted to her human form. "Let's go, Arf."

"Bye bye!" Arf taunted the ferret and girl in white as the two flew away.

Nanoha sighed softly after seeing them leave. "She's really strong..." For some reason, the thought of facing her again didn't scare her.

If anything, she wanted to fight that girl again, to push herself to her limits and find out what she could do when the chips were down. It was too bad that she didn't know why the girl wanted the Jewel Seeds. But she had the feeling that she'd find out soon enough.

(-)

Alicia smiled as she saw Fate and Arf reappear in the penthouse. "Welcome home." Her eyes widened as Fate showed her two Jewel Seeds. "Well..." She knelt down and hugged her daughter. "Good job, Fate." Her smile widened as Fate hugged her back.

"Thank you, mother." Fate closed her eyes and leaned into her mother's embrace. Her lab coat was always so soft, so comfortable, and was so familiar to her, she had never seen her mother go more than one day without wearing that coat, it was weird that she found such a jacket to be so comforting, but, she did. It was just so comforting and comfortable and...

"Fate?" Alicia blinked a few times as she felt Fate go totally lax against her. "...She fell asleep?" Trying and partially failing to stifle her laughter, the woman stood up, carrying her daughter to the bedroom. "Silly girl." She smiled and turned her head to look at her sleeping daughter, as she rubbed Fate's back and kissed her on the cheek. "Take a good rest."

As Alicia left the room, Arf sweat-dropped as Linith fixed her with a _look_ that had her frozen in place.

"So... Arf... How come you look so worn out?" There was that smug, smirking look that had Arf whimpering, even as she slowly explained what happened out there. "Ah, I see, well, no problem then." Linith turned and left, leaving Arf to slump to the floor in relief. "Oh, and Arf..." Linith turned to the wolfgirl and fixed her with a _look_ that froze her in place. "Come here..." Linith crocked a finger forward from her position in the kitchen.

Arf gulped and walked to Linith, before yelping as something round dropped on her head, before a popping noise was heard, covering her in something slimy and sticky.

"Oh dear, it looks like you're messy..." Linith gasped softly. "Bad dog! Outside, and get out of those smelly clothes."

"No fair." Arf whimpered as Linith threw her outside. "It's just not fair." She pulled her sticky clothes off and shivered as a cold breeze blew across her naked body. "How do humans deal with having no fur?" She asked, wondering why Linith picked on her so much.

Deep down, she knew why. They both wanted the best thing for Fate and Alicia and if Arf couldn't protect Fate, then she was failing in her duties.

She yelped as a large blanket was wrapped around her shoulders as Linith hugged her from behind. "Linith?"

"Sorry, your reactions are always funny." Linith whispered softly. "Come on, I'll give you a bath."

"...Thanks." Arf smiled as she was led back inside.


	3. Chapter 3

Changes

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

* * *

A few days later...

Alicia frowned softly, something had happened, she just knew it. "Linith..?"

"Yes?" Her familiar looked at her, though she seemed to be distracted at the time. "Lady Alicia?"

"You feel that?" It was a terrible pulse of magic, one that chilled her to the bones, and she wasn't even that strong, magically, compared to the rest of the people in her penthouse. She couldn't imagine how it was for Linith.

The two went back to what they had been doing before, Linith cleaning up while Alicia did some tests on various things that were laying around. She looked at the Jewel Seeds before shaking her head. The last thing she wanted to do was experiment on them without double-checking to make sure that they were sealed properly.

The two of them suddenly stiffened as they heard the door get kicked in and Arf yelling. The two were in the living room a moment later and Alicia gasped as she saw Fate's hands and arms. There were deep burns, some gouging, and even blood. "Fate!" She gasped and went to her daughter, taking her from Arf. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry, mother... I just wanted to get the Jewel Seed."

"Why would you risk yourself like that?" Alicia yelled, worry written all over her face as Linith moved them towards the bedroom. After putting Fate on the bed, Alicia grew more worried as Fate grimaced from that. "Linith..."

The catgirl nodded and gently, carefully, took Fate's clothing off, both women gasped and stared wide-eyed at the series of burns across Fate's upper body.

"Get the bandages, I'll see about healing her." Linith said softly as Alicia got up and went to the bathroom where they kept the bandages. As she worked some healing magic, mostly to stop any sort of bleeding and lessen the pain, Linith sighed as Fate looked away, out of shame. "What's wrong, Fate?"

"I upset mother... I just wanted that Jewel Seed before that other girl got it."

"So you decided you wanted to know what it felt like to become fried chicken?" Linith snapped at her, getting her to cringe and turn away slightly. Sighing, Linith took a deep breath. "Fate, I'm sorry, but, we're not used to seeing you so badly hurt. It scares us. What if Arf hadn't been there? What if the other girl decided to attack you while you were hurt?" When she didn't respond, Linith ran a hand through Fate's hair, before coaxing her to laying on her back again. "We don't want to lose you, Fate. Your mother would be very sad if you died."

Fate's eyes started to burn with tears as she hiccuped a few times, her breath coming in shuddering gasps, before she rolled over and clung to Linith. "I...I'm sorry!" She started crying, tears falling down her face as Linith, not stopping the healing spell, patted her on the head. She would have rubbed Fate's back, but there were burns there too. Just what had happened out there?

"I'm so so-sorry!" Fate sobbed into Linith's lap. "The other girl got one earlier today and then when the second one popped up, I really wanted to get it and..." She broke down, unable to form words at that time.

Alicia came back at that time and gently sat down on the bed, taking out some burn ointment and started to rub it on her daughter's back and arms. Neither woman said anything as Fate kept crying.

"Feel better?" Linith asked after Fate calmed down. The girl nodded against her lap. "Good... Fate, it's a good thing that you want to get these Lost Logia so badly, but..."

"I don't want you to do something that will get you hurt." Alicia finished for Linith as she continued to rub the lotion onto Fate's body. The two sat Fate up, since the burns were only on her upper body, and applied the lotion to her front. "You're my precious girl, if you died, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"I'm sorry." Fate sniffled softly and blinked as Linith wiped her face with a paper towel. The catgirl didn't say anything, thankfully, but Fate still felt bad that she had made both her mother and Linith worry about her.

At times, Linith felt like a mother to Fate, just like Alicia was.

It made her feel warm and happy.

But, she always felt a deep desire to do all that she could to prove herself worthy of the love that both of them and Arf gave to her. And that was why she did such dangerous and stupid stunts.

(-)

"Hmm..." A woman with long green hair stared at the monitor in front of her. "Dangerous games these children play."

"M...Mother!" A young boy with blue hair by her gasped in shock. "How can you say that?"

The woman turned to her son and smiled. "Because I don't think either of them are trying to hurt each other. It would be nice if they were just trying to collect the Jewel Seeds and got a little too competitive with each other. Besides, they are cute, ne?" She winked and held up a finger, causing the boy to look away as his face turned red.

A girl with brown hair turned to the woman and gave her a look that bordered between exasperated and irritated. "Admiral, wouldn't it be a better idea to get the Jewel Seeds ourselves?"

The Admiral turned to her and nodded. "Oh, it would, I admit, but we have no idea just how much damage the Jewel Seeds have done." She looked at a new video window. "Well, it seems that they've started fighting again. Chrono, perhaps you should go down there and see if they'll be willing to listen to us."

"Of course." The boy bowed his head and walked off to a tube at the back of the room.

"Oh, and Chrono..."

"Huh?" He looked at his mother as she grinned in a way that had him tremble slightly with worry.

"Do try to be diplomatic in this situation. I'd hate to have a fight start due to a misunderstanding again."

The boy's face flushed. "That wasn't my fault." Really, it wasn't. How was he supposed to know that accidentally knocking over a house of cards was considered a criminal offense on that last world?

She giggled at him and nodded. "Of course, good luck, dear."

After watching Chrono disappear, the girl turned to the woman. "Admiral Lindy, was that really neccessary?"

Lindy smiled at the girl. "Amy, sometimes it helps to be constantly reminded of small failures. It helps us avoid big ones in the future."

"So..." Amy's face took on an annoyed bent at that point. "Why bring up that those girls were cute to Chrono?" Sure, she was a couple years older than Chrono was, but she still liked him. Now if only he'd stop being so stiff and formal all the time.

Lindy shrugged as she watched Chrono interrupt the fight between the two girls. "To be honest, I just want him to interact with more people close to his age. It's not good to be around adults all the time, even if one of them is just a teenager." She winked at Amy, who just shook her head and looked back at the screen. "Well, that was a bit unexpected." She hadn't expected the redheaded familiar to attack her son like that. "Amy, can you track them?"

"Already on it, ma'am." Amy's hands flew over the keyboard in front of her before she grimaced and sighed. "I'm sorry, but they did multiple teleports in quick succession, tracing them would take so long that by the time we caught up with them..." She trailed off, disappointed.

Lindy shook her head. "No, it's okay. No one's perfect after all." She smiled as it looked like Chrono was able to talk the other girl into at least coming on board. "At the very least, we should be able to find out what's been going on on this planet."

Amy nodded, though, deep down, she wondered who was going to get in trouble for what was going on. Non-Administered worlds just didn't have powerful mages laying around after all, and Lost Logias didn't just pop up on those worlds either.

So, why were two mages of such power actually fighting on the planet?

(-)

A few days later...

Chrono looked at the screen and frowned softly. "So, with Nanoha's help, we managed to get nine of the Jewel Seeds. Combined with the six that aren't found, that means that the other girl has six Jewel Seeds herself." He turned to Amy. "Are you certain?"

The girl nodded at him. "Yes. All the remaining Jewel Seeds are not on the ground. Which means they can only be in one place..."

"The ocean." He sighed and grumbled about stupid planets having more water than they knew what to do with. "Still, nothing much we can do until they activate on their own..."

Or someone else activated them by force.

(-)

Alicia looked at Arf and sighed. "So, you and Fate got six seeds, huh?" When she nodded, Alicia shook her head. "Well, that's fine."

"Huh?" To say Arf was confused was an understatement, didn't Alicia need at least ten of those Jewel Seeds?

The woman had a sad smile on her face as she stood up from the table. "It's okay, Arf, I should have expected to fail once the Bureau got off its butt and came here." She had faith in Fate and Arf, but to go against anyone with full and proper training? She sighed, before shaking her head and smiling at Arf. "You and Fate did great. After tonight, I don't want you two going out to look anymore."

"Huh?" Arf stood, her eyes wide as she stared at the woman. "All that work, for nothing?"

"Arf, it's not that, I just don't want you or Fate to be badly hurt. If the two of you go against the Bureau, you will be."

Squeezing her hand into a fist, Arf growled slightly. "You'll see... We'll get four more by tonight."

"Arf, wait!" Alicia tried to stop the familiar, but she was already gone and out the door. "No..." A cold sensation welled up in her chest as she ran out of the kitchen. "Arf! Fate!" She stared as the two weren't in the living room. "Linith!"

"Lady Alicia?" The catgirl blinked as she saw her master's worried face. "What's wrong?"

"Go after them." Alicia shuddered, her face seemingly blue. "Something big is going to happen. For god's sake, stop them!"

Linith didn't need anymore motivation as she took off out the window, tracing after Fate and Arf's magic signature. Alicia had a weird way of knowing just when something bad was going to happen sometimes. This was one of those times, she was certain of it.

(-)

"What's going on?" Arf yelled as she and Fate got over the site where they suspected the Jewel Seeds to be.

"I'm not sure." Fate grimaced as she and Arf were forced to dodge out of the way of twisters. "It's like it just started all of a sudden!" Still, if there were six seeds under the water, leaving them alone would be the worst thing in the world.

(-)

"Just what is she thinking?" Amy gasped as she looked at Fate and Arf battle against the out of control Jewel Seeds.

"Did she activate them?" Lindy asked as she came into the control room.

Chrono shook his head. "No. They just went off on their own." Not pleasant, but it was better this way. "Still, it doesn't look like she has the situation under control, does it?"

"I'm here!" He turned to see Nanoha and Yuuno run into the room. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing." Chrono turned away to watch the screen. "We're going to let her handle this and you two will stay here."

"What?" Nanoha was stunned, she couldn't believe it. Chrono wouldn't do something like this, would he?

"It's simple, either she seals up the Jewel Seeds and is worn out, or she fails, but bleeds a lot of power out of them. Either way, after she's done, we'll just swoop in and clean up the mess."

_"Nanoha..."_ The brunette turned to the blond boy next to her. _"Go. I'll cover for you."_

_"Thank you, Yuuno-kun."_ Nanoha smiled as she ran for the teleporter.

Chrono felt a quick build-up of magic behind him and he turned to look, his eyes wide. "What the heck are you doing?" He yelled, but found himself unable to move forward due to a barrier that materialized in front of him.

"I'm going to go down there and help that girl before she gets killed!" Nanoha yelled as Yuuno finished the teleport and dropped her high above the battlefield.

"Sorry." Yuuno shook his head and followed after Nanoha.

"My, my..." Lindy shook her head. Who knew Yuuno was so skilled? 'Able to make a barrier, teleport Nanoha down and follow after her, without a device and through this ship? Impressive.'

Chrono grimaced and watched as Nanoha and Yuuno lent their aid to Fate and Arf. "Amy, send me down there." He didn't even wait for a reply as he ran to the teleporter.

Lindy sighed as she watched her son disappear. 'Clyde, if you were here, what would you do about your son right now?' She asked herself before turning to the view screen. "Amy, make sure to get them back here as soon as possible."

Amy nodded as they watched the events play out.

(-)

Fate looked at the girl in front of her. "Why?" When she blinked, Fate sighed softly. "Why help me? Aren't we enemies?"

Nanoha shrugged at that, the six Jewel Seeds between them floated harmlessly. "You aren't a bad person, you could have done a lot to me when we first fought, but you didn't." She smiled softly. "I'd like to think that we could be friends."

Before Fate could answer, blue binds wrapped around her and pinned her arms and legs to her body. "What the?"

"Fate Testarossa, you are under arrest." Chrono said calmly as he floated into the area. He looked around for her familiar but couldn't see her. "Where..?"

"How _dare_ you!" He heard her voice from behind, moments before a hard kick to the back of his head, knocking him off balance. "Fate!" Arf yelled as she flew to grab the blond girl. "What the?" She blinked, there were only three Jewel Seeds there. "Where are the others..?" She turned and saw Chrono holding up three Jewel Seeds between his fingers. "What the?" When did he get those? She growled as she watched him seal them into his device. "You..." They were one short, just one Jewel Seed short and these two had them! "Fate!" She turned to see that Fate had broken the binds. "We just need one more!"

Fate nodded. 'One more, then Mother will have all that she needs.' The blond girl took a stance behind Arf.

Chrono grimaced as he looked at them. He might have been skilled, but he didn't relish the thought of fighting two people as powerful as them. "Nanoha, Yuuno, I'll need some back-up." At least he could deal with the familiar or the master easily enough if the other one was distracted or fighting.

"Actually, you'll be handing over a Jewel Seed now." A new voice was heard as Nanoha and Chrono spun around to see a woman in a gray and white outfit holding Yuuno around the waist with long nails pointing towards his exposed neck. "Or this boy will be dead." The dead-serious look in her eyes had both Chrono and Nanoha stunned.

'Linith...' Fate couldn't believe that Linith would do this, but she was. 'Why?' She didn't want to kill anyone, she didn't think that Linith wanted to either.

"Well?" The familiar asked, her tone cold and sharp as she pulled her hand back to stab at Yuuno's neck. "Just one Jewel Seed and I'll let him go."

"We can't trust you." Chrono yelled and then grimaced. 'Gods, I sound like a character from some cheesy book right now.' Still, if she was still for a few more moments, he could bind her up and... "Urgh!"

"Not this time!" Arf yelled as she punched Chrono in the small of the back before grabbing him by his jacket and throwing him to the ocean below. "You!" She spun to Nanoha. "Just give me one of your Jewel Seeds and the ferret will be okay." When Nanoha didn't respond, Arf's face got a bit mischevious. "Or maybe you'll take me up on that offer to become my personal pet?"

Arf didn't know why Nanoha blushed at that, but it sure was weird, and kind of funny. If she saw that girl more often, she'd have to tease her more like this.

"...You'll let Yuuno-kun go if I give you a Jewel Seed?" Nanoha looked at Linith, who nodded.

"Just one and he won't be harmed."

"Put out." Raising Heart intoned as a Jewel Seed was released from the pink orb.

Nanoha grabbed the Jewel Seed with her left hand before throwing it right at Linith. True to her word, she let Yuuno go as she grabbed the Seed out of mid-air. "Arf, Fate, we're leaving!"

The two nodded as they all disappeared.

"How could you?" Chrono yelled at Nanoha as he got close to them again He was so close to getting to the root of all of this, and she just GIVES up one of the Jewel Seeds like that?

Nanoha ignored him and floated over to Yuuno. "Are you okay?"

Yuuno nodded and smiled at the girl. "I wasn't in any danger, Nanoha."

"Huh?" Nanoha and Chrono blinked as Yuuno blushed slightly.

"She told me, that she wouldn't hurt me, she just wanted the Jewel Seed, and those two to go with her safely, that's all."

"GAH!" Chrono felt like tearing his hair out. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I was worried she might actually hurt me if I did tell you." Yuuno sighed as he looked at Nanoha. "It's okay, Nanoha." He smiled at her as he grabbed her hands, getting her to blink in surprise at him. "Thank you."

"Welcome." She smiled softly, glad he was okay.


	4. Chapter 4

Changes

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is just for fun.

* * *

"Well, what do you two have to say for yourselves?" Lindy asked as she looked at the two young children. When they apologized, Lindy shook her head and had to remind herself that not only were they just children, they weren't part of the Bureau and ordering them around was a lot harder to do. "At any rate, they have ten Jewel Seeds." Seeing the ashamed looks on Nanoha's face, Lindy suddenly smiled. "Oh, Amy, have they stopped yet?"

"Not yet." Amy's voice was heard as Nanoha and Yuuno looked at her in confusion, what the heck was she talking about here?

Seeing their looks and sensing Chrono's confusion, Lindy grinned similar to a cat that got a canary. "Oh, sorry, we forgot to tell you that we slipped a little tracking spell onto the seals of all the Jewel Seeds that you collected, Nanoha."

"Huh? When did..." She trailed off, her eyes becoming white and blank as she held a finger up to her face. "Oh!" She smacked an open palm with her fist. "When you wanted to see my Jewel Seeds!"

Lindy nodded and smiled at her. "Sorry for not telling you, but we thought it would be for the best, in case something happened and the Testarossa girl got her hands on them, we could find them easily enough." When Nanoha nodded in understanding, Lindy mentally let out a sigh of relief. She did trust Nanoha, but there was always a chance of things going wrong.

"For now, we'll just..."

"Admiral!" Amy's voice interrupted. "They stopped somewhere in the city, but before we could send anyone, they teleported off planet."

"What?" Lindy stood and moved to the control room, Chrono, Yuuno and Nanoha following her. The four reached the room quickly enough as Amy was pouring her fingers over the keyboard. "What do you mean?"

"They did. I found the energy signals of ten Jewel Seeds and four people." Amy suddenly smiled as the energy didn't completely disappear. "Good." She smiled softly. "We got them."

"So, there was another person involved..." Lindy muttered to herself softly. "Chrono, Nanoha, Yuuno."

"Yes?" The three snapped to attention at the way she was speaking.

"I want you three on standby." She didn't even look to see them nod as she gave orders to find some way to communicate with the occupants inside of the floating building.

"Um, Miss Lindy?" When the older woman turned to look at her, Nanoha gulped slightly. "Why don't we send in any of your armed soldiers?"

Lindy shook her head. "I would, but they have ten Jewel Seeds, and with Miss Fate, Miss Arf and two unknowns, I would rather not risk any of my men."

"Ma'am!" A man called from the below deck. "We have visuals."

"Thank you, Randy, open them up." A screen popped up and let everyone see a rather large white circular design on the floor, Fate, Arf and the woman who threatened Yuuno were standing at various points, ten Jewel Seeds spun around two figures in the center. The one on the floor had long, dark hair that had several people gasping as they saw who it was. "Precia Testarossa..." Lindy whispered softly, remembering the intelligence report that Amy had dug up just the other day. "That means..." She looked at the other woman, who turned to look at the camera. "Alicia Testarossa, I presume?"

"Yes..." The blond woman said as she stood up. "I take it that you're here because of what my daughter, familiar and my daughter's familiar have done to you and your people?"

"Partially, we also need to discuss your usage of the Jewel Seeds."

Alicia nodded but turned away. "Forgive me, but I need to use them now."

"You can't!" Chrono yelled as he stepped forward. "That many Jewel Seeds together could cause a major rip between the dimensions!"

"It's the only way to cast this spell!" Alicia yelled back and for the first time, Lindy noticed an open spell book on the floor. "The magic requirements for this are enormous!"

"Hold on a second, Miss Testarossa." Lindy squeezed her son's shoulder to keep him calm. "If we allow you to do what you're going to do, will you surrender the Jewel Seeds right away?"

Everyone blinked at Lindy in surprise, but Alicia nodded. "Yes! If I cast this spell, my mother will be healed and I'll gladly give you the Jewel Seeds."

Lindy thought about it for a few moments before turning to the three mages behind her. "Chrono, Nanoha, Yuuno, I want you three to go there and help."

"Huh?"

Lindy ignored them and turned to the view monitor. "Miss Testarossa, I wish to send you some additional support. Having three people watch the energy fluctuations of the Jewel Seeds to make sure that they don't go out of control isn't the easiest thing. Having six people to make sure that they don't go out of control sounds better, don't you think?"

The woman in the lab coat nodded. "Please hurry though, mother doesn't have much time left."

"Of course." Lindy nodded and then turned to Nanoha, Chrono and Yuuno. "You heard me, you will assist Alicia Testarossa on this, and whether she succeeds or fails, you are to collect the Jewel Seeds and bring them back." When they nodded, she shooed them off. _"And, Chrono..."_

_"Yes, mother?"_

_"You will need to bring them all in for questioning."_

_"Of course."_ He nodded as the three were teleported off of the ship.

Lindy hated to do something like that, but she just couldn't over-look the crimes committed by Fate Testarossa.

(-)

Alicia nodded at the three as they ran into the room. "Please, take positions between Fate, Arf and Linith." As she watched them do that, she idly wondered why the girl looked at Arf and blushed while the blond boy looked at Linith slightly uncomfortable, before concentrating on the spell in front of her.

As she watched her mother speak in some sort of weird chant, Fate's eyes widened as she saw the Jewel Seeds suddenly glow and fire some energy beam straight at her mother. "Ngh." She took a deep breath and concentrated on the Jewel Seeds, which had stopped spinning, thankfully, and tried to make sure that none of them were flaring with more power than they needed to.

Alicia held her hands forward and gasped softly as a powerful white beam of magic converged onto the prone form of her mother. It was so bright that everyone, except Alicia, who was being covered in the light as well, had to look away. "Mother?" She asked after several moments when the light finally faded away.

"Nnngh... Alicia?" Precia asked as she sat up. "What happened?"

_"Nanoha..."_ Chrono signaled to the younger girl, who nodded, the two slowly gathered the Jewel Seeds and Nanoha was privately relieved when no one made any motion to stop them.

She stopped when she felt Arf kneel behind her and put a hand on her belly. "That offer is still on the table, if you want it." Nanoha's face turned bright red as Arf laughed at her discomfort and let her go.

"Alicia..." Precia smiled and hugged her daughter. "Thank you, daughter, you did it."

Alicia smiled as she hugged Precia back. "So, you're better now, right?"

Precia nodded but her eyes caught something coming towards her. "I see that your tool is still alive."

Those words had everyone stop, except Chrono, who sealed up the last Jewel Seed, but even he was still looking at them in slight shock.

"Mother?" Alicia let go and looked at her mother. "What..."

"You never told her, did you?" Precia looked at Fate with some disgust. "How you created her just to be a tool."

"Stop..." Alicia trembled, her mother couldn't tell Fate. No, telling her was the worst thing that could happen!

"You honestly came to care for your own clone, how cute."

Fate's eyes widened, a clone? She was a clone? And a tool? "...Mother?" She whispered softly. When Alicia didn't move or say anything, her eyes watered up. Was she hated by her mother so much?

"You should at least give her the dignity of knowing that you used my research to clone yourself, Alicia..."

"Mother..." Alicia trembled slightly. "Stop..."

Precia stood up and glared at Fate. "You were nothing more than a tool my daughter made to help her gather these Jewel Seeds and heal me, nothing more, nothing less." She held up a hand to block a punch from Arf. "Oh, it's you..." She snorted before back-handing Arf and sending her flying across the room. "My... I think that healing spell worked too well, Alicia..."

Fate couldn't stop herself from crying at that point. "Mother..."

"Shut it!" Precia yelled at the small blond. "You're not real! You're nothing more than a tool, to be used and then thrown away when you break, or maybe used for something else? But, it doesn't matter, we don't need you anymore, you're free to..."

There was a loud slapping noise, and a resounding silence as Precia stumbled back, tenderly touching her cheek. "...What?"

"Enough... Precia..." Alicia trembled, her hand still straight up from where she slapped Precia in the face.

Turning to Fate, Alicia kept her head down as she nodded to Chrono's question. "Yes, it's true... Everything that she said was true. I made Fate in a laboratory ten years ago today, I made her a clone of myself and I intended to mentally program her to not feel any emotions at all, a perfect magical weapon, one that couldn't feel fear, pain or joy, one that would fight with no problems..."

Fate nearly fell to her knees, but stopped as Linith grabbed her by her shoulders. It was the only reason that she didn't stop looking at Alicia. "Why..?"

"My mother was the only person I had, Fate..." Alicia took a deep breath, before looking up, tears falling down her face. "But..." She smiled, even with the tears falling. "You did something that no tool could ever do, Fate..."

The girl, her eyes burning with tears, blinked at Alicia. "What?"

"You smiled at me." Tears fell down her face even faster at that point. "I realized, I was so stupid..." Alicia rubbed her eyes, but couldn't get them to stop. "You weren't a tool... You were my daughter... I love you, daughter..."

"M...Mother!" Fate cried and ran to Alicia, who knelt down, and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, mother, I'm so sorry for doubting you."

"It's okay, Fate..." Alicia rubbed her daughter's back gently as they held each other and cried together. "I was worried that you'd hate me."

Fate shook her head. "How can I hate my own mother?"

Those words had Alicia crying again as the two clung to each other for support.

Linith smiled as she saw the two hug each other, before going to where Arf was and helping her onto her feet. "You okay?"

"Do kitties chase puppies?" Arf asked, her eyes swirling as she wobbled back and forth.

"You're just fine." Linith smiled, though she made a mental note to ask Arf just what offer she made to the girl in white that had her blushing so much.

Precia stared at the two, before glaring at the smaller of the two blondes. "How dare you..?" They both turned to her as she seemingly arced a fist, as if she were holding a small ball in it. "How dare you take my Alicia away from me?"

Everyone's eyes widened as one of Fate's spells, the Photon Launcher, was launched from Precia's fingertips at the two.

Alicia couldn't believe it, to go so far... "Why..?" She asked softly, before she felt her daughter push her away, moments before the spell crashed into Fate's body and sending her flying across the room and crashing into a wall, where she fell to the ground, not moving.

"Just let me put that thing out of its misery, Alicia, and you'll see, we'll be together and happy." Another Photon Launcher flew at Fate's downed form, before a green wall got in the way. "What?" She turned and glared at Yuuno. "You... How dare you?" She growled and prepared to fire another spell when pink binds wrapped around her body.

"How dare you?" A soft voice spoke up as Nanoha stood beside Alicia, her eyes were obscured by the shadow of her hair. "Fate tried so hard, even risking her life, just to make sure that her mother could heal you, and you throw her AWAY?" Nanoha's body exploded with pink energy, even as a circle appeared under her feet and dots of light seemed to appear in front of her. "You throw away your family like trash when they worked so hard to save you?" Nanoha looked up, her eyes showing pure rage at the older woman, who, despite herself, gulped slightly. "That girl and I, we weren't friends, but I respected her. She never took things further than I did, and never tried to kill me or anyone else. She just wanted the Jewel Seeds for her mother so they could help you, and you just... THROW HER AWAY?"

**"Starlight Breaker."** Raising Heart intoned as Nanoha snapped her device forward, a gigantic pink beam snapped forward, converging on the prone form of Precia, who could only stare in shock as she was engulfed by the huge amount of magical energy.

Alicia didn't care for any of this, when she heard the device call out the attack, she had already left the girl's side and made her way to Fate. "oh no..." She gasped as she saw some blood trickling out from her head. _"Linith!"_ She yelled telepathically over the roar of powerful magic.

_"Coming!"_ Linith yelled back as she ran and ignored the way her creator was being punished. Precia might have made Linith into a familiar, but Alicia was Linith's master, it was a weird situation if she ever stopped to think about it. "Oh dear..." She whispered as she cast a quick healing spell and hoped that it would stop any more bleeding or brain damage to the young girl.

As the magic subsided, Nanoha walked forward slowly as Precia peeled herself, literally, off of the wall she was forced into. The older woman fell to the floor in a crumpled heap and gasped as she looked up at the girl. "You... Why do you dare interfere?"

**"Divine..."**

"How dare you throw away your family like that?" Nanoha whispered softly, the sheer rage in her eyes would have been enough to make even a devil hesitate for a moment.

**"Buster..."**

Nanoha pointed her staff at Precia again, the older woman's eyes widened as a pink beam, not _as_ powerful as the one that had just pummeled her previously, crashed into her body and knocked her into the wall gain.

"Again!" Nanoha yelled after that spell abated and fired another Divine Buster into Precia, getting her to cry out as blood was expelled from her mouth.

"We have to stop her!" Chrono yelled to Yuuno as the two ran towards Nanoha. He knew Nanoha, she was no killer, but if she didn't stop, Precia would be dead. He grabbed her shoulder after that last Divine Buster, all she did was turn to him and look at him with those berserk, dead eyes before pointing an open palm at him. "Nanoha, what?"

"Strike Smasher." She whispered softly and Chrono barely got a shield up before he was blown away from Nanoha, the arms to his jacket were destroyed and his arms were smoldering from that attack.

"What is she?" Chrono asked as Nanoha turned back to Precia and wound up for another attack.

"Nanoha!" Yuuno grabbed the girl from behind in a hug. "Stop!"

Nanoha's eyes widened as she felt Yuuno behind her. "Yuu...no...kun..?" The pink glow abated from her body as she slumped, tiredly against him. "So tired..."

"Just rest then." Yuuno whispered to her as she nodded and closed her eyes, consciousness fleeing her.

Chrono grimaced as his arms burned. "What a mess..." He sighed softly.

_"Chrono! Are you okay?"_ His mother's voice was heard in his head as he nodded.

_"My arms are a bit on the extra crispy side, but I'm okay... We need a pick up, we got at least two injured people down here."_

_"On it."_ Amy's voice was heard and Chrono smiled softly, at least this was going to be taken care of quickly enough.

Still, one thing bothered him... Just _why_ did Nanoha go berserk like that?

* * *

Nanoha went "White Devil" on Precia.

I'm sure that we've all wanted to see that happen in canon, right?


	5. Chapter 5

Changes

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

* * *

"Well, this is certainly a mess." The ship's doctor shook his head. "Alright, first up." Pointing at Chrono, he smirked. "Don't go trying to stop berserk cuties like Nanoha anytime in the next few days and those burns will heal properly."

"Hey!" Chrono yelled indignantly as Amy and Lindy both chuckled at him.

"As for the rest, Arf suffered a mild concussion, but she'll be okay, Nanoha exhausted herself, we're just waiting for her to recover, Fate, well, she'll be just fine." The man smiled as he turned to Alicia, who was sitting by Fate's bed. The woman in question let out a sigh of relief. "She just bumped her head too hard and got knocked out, the blood came from a shallow cut just above the hairline, she'll be just fine."

"Thank you." Alicia said softly.

"As for Precia Testarossa, she's banged up pretty heavily, but I don't think she'll need any surgury to get better. It'll just take her longer." Considering Precia's advanced age, the doctor had doubts that she would survive, but that wasn't something he was going to tell anyone at that point.

Lindy nodded and stepped towards Alicia. "Can you come with me? We need to talk."

Alicia shook her head. "Please? I just want to be near my daughter."

Lindy smiled softly. "Of course... Chrono?"

"I'm going to make sure that Nanoha's alright." The boy said as he left the room.

Lindy smiled, it seemed that this was a good experience for him after all. Her face became solemn as she turned to Alicia. "I'll need your version of events for my reports."

"...I take it that there's going to be some criminal charges pressed onto my daughter, huh?"

"It's possible." Lindy wouldn't deny it, but if any charges would be brought up, they would be done after her report got back.

"...If there are any charges to be brought up against Fate, Arf or Linith, I'll take the blame for them." Lindy blinked at her. The blond shook her head. "Please, you have to understand, she's my daughter, I want what's best for her."

Lindy nodded, smiling softly. "Of course. Now, start from the beginning... How did Fate come to be?"

Alicia grimaced, she had a feeling she would be answering this question for some time to come.

(-)

"Nnngh..." She groaned and cracked an eye open. "What happened?" She asked, not expecting an answer from anyone.

"You got mad and nearly killed Precia Testarossa and gave Chrono a burn he won't soon forget."

She winced and looked at Yuuno, before gasping as she saw his hands. "You're hurt."

"Huh?" He looked down at his bandaged hands. "Ah, don't worry, they're just red, the doctor put a salve on them and wrapped them up so that they'd heal quickly." He chuckled at her softly. "How are you though? You passed out."

"Just tired..." Nanoha whimpered and sighed, she just wanted to sleep at that moment.

"Can I ask you something before you go to sleep?" Chrono asked as he walked into the room.

"Chrono-kun..." Nanoha's eyes widened as she saw the bandages from his fingers up past his elbows. "I'm sorry."

The older boy rolled his eyes. "Just tell me why you went so crazy back there."

Nanoha shifted and sat up fully. "...Fate did nothing wrong, she was just trying to help save that woman for her mother, and she was rejected... For just being different."

Chrono bit his lower lip, but he held his tongue for the moment.

"There's nothing more painful than being rejected or separated from your family." Nanoha said in a soft voice that had both boys looking at her. "...I saw what she did to Fate and I remembered how it felt when my dad got badly hurt..."

'Traumatic experience, huh?' Chrono thought to himself, well, at least things made some sense now.

"I couldn't bother them, not with my problems, I had to be strong for their sakes..." Nanoha gripped her head and stared blankly in front of her. "Don't want it... Don't want that ever again... No, never..." She blinked as she felt some arms wrap around her. "...Yuuno-kun?" She blinked at him as he smiled softly. "...Thank you." She hugged him back.

"Do you practice that or something?" Chrono had to shake his head. "Still doesn't explain just why she went so berserk..."

"My guess is, Raising Heart amplified her emotional state." Yuuno spoke up, getting a blink from both Chrono and Nanoha. "It's an Intelligent Device, they have a will of their own and at times they can either influence their owners slightly or rebell against their owners fully."

Chrono shrugged, it was as good an explination as any. Plus it reminded him why Storage and Armed devices were more common; they couldn't screw with their owners.

Yuuno chuckled softly. "Of course, it could be that Raising Heart didn't like what it felt from Nanoha and wanted to make the source go away."

"That's... Putting it mildly..." Nanoha deadpanned as she slumped back against the bed. "Chrono-kun, please, I just want some more sleep."

"Sure." He nodded as he and Yuuno left the room.

"Hey, Chrono..." Yuuno spoke up after they left the room. "Are you going to charge Linith for what she did?"

"I'll have to put it in the report at least, and most likely, yeah, she'll get charged with attempted murder and kidnapping." Sometimes cases were a pain in the ass. If Alicia, Linith, Fate and Arf had been bad people, he and Lindy would have no problem throwing them into prison for the next three hundred years. But they weren't, which made any judgment call hard to do.

"Well, I don't want to press charges." Chrono blinked a few times at Yuuno, who shook his head. "She just wanted to help her master, nothing more. She even said that she didn't want to hurt me, so I don't think she's a bad person."

"Alright, if that's what you want." Chrono shrugged and walked off, he needed to talk to his mother anyway.

(-)

"So, in the meantime, we'll be staying in orbit, just above Earth..." Lindy was talking to her crew. "At least until Nanoha has recovered and can go back to her home." After all, going back to Mid-Childa with someone who wasn't registered with the Bureau would look like they were kidnapping her. "In addition, we need to wait to hear from Head Quarters for what they want to do on this case." As everyone nodded, she sighed and sat back in her chair before turning to look at Yuuno. "You're welcome to come back with us to Mid-Childa. I'm sure that your family is worried."

"Ah." Yuuno took on a slightly surprised look before he shook his head. "Um, no, actually, I'd rather stay here on Earth for now. Even if I went home now, I doubt I'd see any of my clan. We're always out digging up something new and exciting."

"Plus you're worried about Nanoha, huh?" Amy piped in, giggling as Yuuno's face turned bright red.

Lindy chuckled softly. "Alright then, when we go back, we'll leave you here with her."

"Thank you." Yuuno nodded, bowing.

(-)

A few days later...

Nanoha groaned as her cell phone rang. Sitting up in her bed, she picked it up. "Hello?" Her eyes widened. "Uh huh... uh huh... Okay! I'll see you down there!" She hung up her phone and started getting dressed.

"What is it, Nanoha?" Yuuno was in his ferret form and didn't look at her as she got dressed, out of respect for her privacy.

"They're heading back to Mid-Childa today. Miss Lindy got word from her bosses on what they're going to do with Miss Alicia and Fate. I'm going down to the pier to say goodbye."

"I'll come with you." Yuuno smiled. It didn't seem like anything bad was going to happen at least.

(-)

It took about fifteen minutes at max speed for Nanoha to make it to the pier in question. "Fate!" She smiled as she saw the blond, dressed in a white shirt and shorts. "Hey..." She blinked as Fate didn't turn around and she got close to her. "What's wrong..?"

"Why?" Fate asked, her voice seemed to be cracking up as she spun and Nanoha gasped, taking a step back as she saw the unbridled anger in those eyes. "Why did you interfere? If you hadn't, then we would have gotten ten Jewel Seeds before the Bureau got involved and mother would have gotten what she needed..."

"Fate..?" Nanoha looked at Yuuno, who was riding on her shoulder, in confusion. The ferret had no answer to give her. "What..." She turned back to Fate. "What do you mean?"

"If you hadn't interfered, I'd be living with mother happily, instead of being taken away from her!" Fate spun and ran to Arf, clinging to the taller girl.

Nanoha's eyes were wide, she didn't understand at all. "What..?"

_"Don't be mad at her."_ Arf's voice was heard by both Nanoha and Yuuno. _"We overheard someone saying that since Fate's a clone of her mother... They're going to split Lady Alicia and Fate up."_

"What?" Nanoha looked at Fate, who was crying even more now. "But..."

Chrono sighed and walked up to them, speaking softly. "Alicia created Fate using illegal research, making Artifical Humans, such as clones, is a heavy taboo on our world. In nearly all cases, the child is taken away from the parents."

"But, Chrono..."

"I'll see what I can do, okay?" He smiled at her softly. "There hasn't been a formal decision yet, and mother and I will do all that we can to help her, okay?"

Nanoha nodded and looked at Fate, hoping for the best.

(-)

Nanoha practically jumped out of her skin as she sat at the table eating dinner when her phone rang. It had been almost two weeks since she had last seen Fate or Chrono and her curiosity was nearly killing her at that time. Grabbing her cell phone, she asked to be excused and ran to her room as she answered her phone.

Yuuno looked up as she came into the room. He didn't mind spending time in his ferret form, but he wished that he could just tell Nanoha's family about his true nature. It would be easier to be a human than a ferret at times. "What's wrong, Nanoha?"

"I'm getting a call from Chrono-kun!" Nanoha put the phone on speaker so they could both hear him. "This is Nanoha, Chrono-kun, is that you?"

_"Nanoha? Yeah, this is Chrono..."_ His voice didn't sound happy and Nanoha started to look worried at her phone.

"What's wrong?"

_"I'm sorry. I tried, mother and I both tried so hard."_ His voice was so tired sounding that it made Nanoha wish he was there so she could at least let him lay on her bed for a bit. _"The ruling... It wasn't favorable."_

"What?" Nanoha's pupils shrank as her body went cold and numb from shock. "What do you mean?"

_"I mean..."_ Chrono sighed over the phone. _"While Fate, Arf and Linith got off without any charges, due to Alicia Testarossa taking all the blame for any crimes that the three of them committed, however..."_ His voice trailed off as he sighed again. _"It was ruled by the judges that while Alicia Testarossa is given a one-year probation for the crimes that those three committed, she and Fate are to be split up."_

"WHAT?" Both Nanoha and Yuuno yelled at the phone.

_"We tried fighting it, we did. Even with the fact that Fate was made illegally, the court council wasn't keen on separating them until it was brought up that Fate went out and did dangerous things, including getting hurt several times. Illegal research and forbidden creation of an artificial lifeform, child endangerment and neglect..."_ Nanoha could hear the anger in Chrono's voice, hell, she agreed with him, those idiots needed to be punished, or something. _"For the duration of her probation, Alicia has no parental rights concerning Fate Testarossa, in addition, it was recommended that Fate should be kept away from Alicia until she reaches the age of fifteen at least."_

"But... She just turned ten... She doesn't deserve this!" Yuuno yelled from his perch on Nanoha's shoulder, having moved there shortly after the phone call was made.

_"I know... For the time being, mother is her acting legal guardian."_

"Chrono-kun! Can't you do something? Anything?"

_"I _tried, _Nanoha, I really did, but in the end, their stance was firm. I'll call you with any updates..."_ Chrono sighed as he ended the call.

"It's my fault..." Nanoha trembled, tears welling up in her eyes. She barely felt Yuuno jump off of her shoulder, but she did feel him when he touched her shoulder as a human. "Yuuno-kun!" She hugged him, sobbing into his chest. "It's my fault! I'm horrible!"

Yuuno didn't say anything as he held her. It wasn't her fault, he knew it. But he doubted that she'd see it that way, at least for awhile.

* * *

Powerful chapters, huh?


	6. Chapter 6

Changes

Final Chapter

Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is just for fun.

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"Now then, Miss Testarossa..." Alicia heard the older man speak as the two of them sat in a residential room of some ship. She had missed the name of the ship, or it was never spoken, she forgot. Her parole officer had gray hair and a gray beard as he looked at her. "You'll be serving on this ship for the duration of your probation. I do hope that it's suitable."

Alicia looked around the room, Linith was putting clothes away in the various dressers. It was sparse, but rather large, and it did kind of surprise her, well, that and the two beds in the room. "I guess..."

"Now, your commanding officer will be here soon, and I want you to follow everything she says."

Alicia turned to him and nodded. "Of course."

The man smiled softly at her. "She knows about your situation, so she won't expect you to be too happy when she shows up to inspect you."

Alicia nodded and turned to the door as it opened. Sighing, she just couldn't bring herself to look up, she didn't want to see her commander's face, she just wanted some time to grieve, since she wouldn't see her daughter for at least a year and... She blinked as she heard several gasps of surprise. Slowly lifting her head up, her eyes widened and she brought her hands to cup her mouth. 'It... It can't be..!' She thought to herself in shock.

(-)

Chrono looked at Fate as she walked forward, her body slumped down as she stared at the ground, behind her, Arf walked along slowly, offering support as best she could, but they both knew it wouldn't work, at least for now. "Hey, Fate, come on, it won't be too bad. I promise. Mother will make sure that you and Alicia are back as a family as soon as possible."

Fate didn't say anything as she walked forward and Chrono winced as Arf slapped the back of his head. "Sorry, I'm not used to trying to help someone like this."

Arf frowned but sighed. To be honest, neither was she.

"Well, Miss Fate, welcome." Lindy smiled at the small blond, who looked up at her. Those red eyes held repressed anger, resentment, but most of all, resignation. It wasn't a good mix, though Lindy could sympathize. "Well, follow me, I need to show you to your room, you too, Miss Arf, you'll be staying with Miss Fate."

Fate looked down, she didn't want to be any room that her mother wasn't near. She couldn't recall a single night that she slept alone until her mother got put on trial and now she was going to be alone for a year. Alone, with just Arf for support? This was going to be a horrible year.

She blinked as she felt a hand on her shoulder, she looked up, her eyes widening as she gasped. There, in front of her, wearing that same white lab coat that she loved so much... "M...Mother?" Fate took a tentative step forward, worried that someone would stop her, when no one did she took another, and another, and another, before abandoning everything and running, full speed, tears falling down her face as she hugged Alicia tightly. "Mother!" She cried as Alicia caught her and lifted her up, hugging her tightly as both of them cried and clung to each other.

"Um... What's going on?" Chrono asked as he looked at his mother. "Admiral Graham?"

Gil Graham smiled at Chrono. "I believe, as Alicia's parole officer and an Admiral in the Bureau, I get to decide who Alicia will be working under, correct?"

"Mother?" Chrono looked at Lindy, who was grinning ear-to-ear.

"I believe that as Fate's current legal guardian, captain of this ship and Admiral of the Bureau, I get to decide sleeping arrangements. And, sadly, there's just not enough room for all the new people on my ship to have a room to themselves, so I've had to bunk a few people together." She wondered if she should tell Chrono about his new sleeping arrangements, but decided against it. After all, he would find out when he went to bed that night.

Tapping her chin, Lindy turned to the two blondes. "As for you, Alicia Testarossa, my first order to you is simply this..." Her face was stern and serious as the two looked at her, tears still falling down their faces.

"Make sure that you raise that young girl to become a fine young woman." Lindy's face slowly broke into a smile. "After all, it would be such a waste for someone so cute to grow up and hate the Bureau that split her from her mother."

Fate blushed but hugged her mother, silent tears falling down her face, the happiness she felt, it eclipsed the sun.

"Think you can handle that order, Alicia Testarossa?"

Alicia nodded and mouthed a thanks to her as she held her daughter tightly.

"Mother?" Chrono looked confused. "I thought..."

"Well, I am Fate's legal guardian, but it seems that I'm just so busy. There's no way that I could raise a boy and a girl on my own, so I think a responsible adult to help me is just responsible, don't you, Admiral Graham?"

"Why yes I do." The man nodded at her. "Especially since she has such strong magic, it would be a waste if she wasn't nurtured and raised properly."

"Besides, we need to head back to Earth soon anyway." Lindy took a vaguely confused look as she crossed her arms under her breasts and tapped her chin with a finger. "It seems that we're one Jewel Seed short. Only twenty got turned in and I'm not sure where that last one is." She shrugged and winked at Chrono. "I'm sure that Jewel Seed Number Twenty One will show up sooner or later, right?"

Chrono nodded and bowed as he left the room. There were hints of a smile on his face as he raced to the control room. If Amy was there, well, he knew that she'd be happy to hear the news along with Yuuno and Nanoha.

- The End

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What? You thought that this would be a sad story?

Anyway, two Omakes for you to enjoy.

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Omake Ending 1: (Dedicated to Moczo)

Chrono yawned, the day was so long and he was so tired and after the roller-coaster his emotions had been on in the past few days, he needed some sleep. As he stripped down out of his clothes, he idly noticed that it wasn't just his clothes on the floor, but ignored that as he got into bed, completely naked and sighed softly.

Closing his eyes, he pulled the covers over his body and rolled over, sighing as he felt something warm and soft against his body. He didn't think much of it, it felt comfortable at least, so he decided to snuggle against it more, before he heard a voice. Cracking his eyes open, he blinked a few times as he saw flesh in front of him, before he looked up, his eyes widening as he saw the blushing face of Amy in bed with him.

"Eeek!" Amy jumped out of the bed and Chrono blushed heavily as he saw her nude form.

"Um, you're not wearing anything."

"I know that!" Amy yelled and grabbed a sheet. "Why did this happen?"

"I don't know." Chrono was blushing, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of her. "Um, I can get dressed and find another room or something..."

Amy looked at him and sighed. "No... Just... Let me get some clothes on and we'll talk to Lindy in the morning, I'm too tired to argue." She looked down at him and blinked. "...You're naked too?"

"...Too tired to keep my clothes on." Chrono muttered and Amy could see the exhaustion on his face.

"...Let's just go to sleep... And don't try anything!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chrono asked as she slipped back into the bed. He didn't get an answer as she soon fell asleep. "...you forgot to put clothes on..." Chrono pointed out, but settled down in bed as well, falling asleep rather quickly.

It didn't take them long to roll over and start cuddling against each other.

Unknown to the two of them, Lindy smiled as she walked by outside. It seemed like things would work out.

Omake 2: (Dedicated to biigoh)

Nanoha wasn't sure why she was doing this. She really wasn't. Looking at the door in front of her, she took a deep breath and rang the door bell. Still, all those comments had made her curious, and she did kind of want to know just what was involved...

Plus, well, she couldn't help it, being dominated like that had made her so _curious_. She smiled shakily as Arf opened the door. "Hello... Is the offer to be your pet still open?"

Arf grinned and nodded. Nanoha was led inside and blinked as Fate snapped a collar around her neck. "Um..." It even had a dog tag naming her as Arf's pet. "So... now what?"

Arf scratched her head. "Actually, I have no clue..."

"Huh, I thought there would be more."

"...Me too." Arf blinked and pouted, it sounded fun, but just what did you do with your own personal pet?


End file.
